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(EMAILWIRE.COM, April 02, 2011 ) New York, NY -- A New York actress who kidnapped an infant at a phony Bollywood casting call that she posted on Craigslist last year has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
Michelle Marie Gopaul, 25, pleaded guilty Friday in a crime her attorney, Gary Batasar, described as being motivated by "love."
Gopaul, a former honors student, lied to her ex-boyfriend about being pregnant, and then decided to steal an infant in order to support the lie, the court was told. In what had become a growing web of deception, Gopaul attempted to bolster her story by posting false updates about her pregnancy on various online social media websites.
Gopaul, using a fake name, made last minute arrangements on December, 30 to lease space at À la Carte Videos, a west-end production studio, for the fictitious audition. The rented space was in a relatively busy location. Parents were requested to audition a "newborn baby girl of Indian background" for a potential $15,000 in compensation for allowing their baby to be used in a film shoot. Amongst the candidates were the parents of one-month-old Roma Patel, who disappeared shortly after arriving for the audition. Just prior to the infant's disappearance, Gopaul asked if she could take their baby into a separate room for a few minutes, according to an electrician who was at the scene.
Gopaul was arrested by police during the wee hours of Dec. 31 after police recovered one-month-old Roma Patel.
Gopaul decided to enter a guilty plea with the court after learning of the substantial mountain of evidence prosecutors had against her, Mr. Batasar said.
He remarked that, "She wanted to demonstrate some remorse by admitting responsibility for what happened and putting the matter to rest, and putting the family and everybody else at ease that itÂ’s over."
At her sentencing on Friday, Gopaul said "I have never been in trouble with the cops beforeÂ…. Everyone thinks I'm a bad person but I'm not a bad person".
Gopaul was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment by Justice William Wolski and will undergo counseling while in custody.
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(EMAILWIRE.COM, April 02, 2011 ) New York, NY -- A New York actress who kidnapped an infant at a phony Bollywood casting call that she posted on Craigslist last year has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.